highball
"highball" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“highball” is uncommon English (frequency #81,404 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #81,404
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cocktail made from a spirit plus soda water etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | highball |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #81,404 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “highball” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
highball is uncommon English at frequency #81,404 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for highball, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From high + ball, of the same railroad origins as lowball. The correct English form is highball, spelled H-I-G-H-B-A-L-L.
Definition
- 1A cocktail made from a spirit plus soda water etc.
- 2An all clear or full speed ahead signal.
- 3A very high bouldering problem, often with a hard landing.
- 4Clipping of highball glass, a tall glass tumbler used for serving highballs.
Etymology
From high + ball, of the same railroad origins as lowball.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “highball”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-G-H-B-A-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.